Summer Nature/Outdoor Skills Camp Instructor:

Note: Must be available to teach all three Survival Camp sessions in Rockport July 15-August 2. Preference for candidates who can also teach both Woodland Seekers Camp sessions in Beverly August 5-16. Mondays through Fridays 9am-3pm.

Full instructors are over the age of 21. Applicants 18-21 will be considered as Assistant Instructors. We have volunteer positions for youth under 18.

Kestrel is looking to hire super awesome, very outdoorsy, nature loving, kid magnet summer instructors. We are not going to lie, this job is demanding, but also it is a lot of fun and and you will be outdoors in beautiful places all the time. We pay fairly and we're nice to each other and we get some fantastic little naturalist kids adventuring with us. There will be fire making and frog catching and playing and making up stories and building stuff. Kids get to decide how to spend a lot of their time, and the scheduling is all flexible, so if they're into something, one activity can last hours. We live with the rhythms of nature. Everything is 100% outdoors except in cases of storms. Instructors help design the plans, so you get to do the things you love.

The instructor will co-design and facilitate a variety of nature based camp sessions for children. Each camp session is small (20 max total campers and 2-3 staff). The camps are a mix of naturalist skills, outdoor survival skills, adventure, and play and imagination. You may also work with one of our local partners to design and deliver half day programs for their youth. Ages range from 4-15 depending on the week. Locations include Rockport public woods, Beverly public woods, and the campus of a private school in Manchester. Please look at our website to learn more about the camp before applying.

Pay: $20-$22 per hour for instructors 21 and older

Qualifications:

* First Aid and CPR certification essential (you can acquire these after being hired), Lifeguard training and wilderness first aid preferred

* Experience working with groups of children in the outdoors

* Skills, knowledge, and experience in at least one of the following: Wilderness skills (wildlife tracking, primitive firecraft, wild edibles, compass navigation, shelters, knots, etc.), water skills (lifeguarding, open water swimming, etc.), naturalist skills (ability to find and identify at least one category of organisms such as reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, plants, trees, etc.) We are looking for staff who come with some of these skills and can teach them independently.

* Must be very high energy and very outdoorsy. We're looking for someone who voluntarily spends time in the wild on a regular basis and can convey their personal enthusiasm for all living things and for outdoor adventure to others.

* Willing to enthusiastically enjoy the natural world in all weather and traverse up to 3 miles a day carrying a backpack with supplies, over varying terrain

* Belief in childrens' natural capacity for learning and exploration, coupled with a willingness to set and enforce firm safety boundaries.

* Open to Kestrel's way of teaching. Kestrel Summer Adventures is not a traditional summer camp in that we don't play a lot of standard camp games or rotate between adult directed activities. We are a community spending our day outside with an organic flow of learning. We teach nature and outdoor skills at a high level, with imagination and joy. Our instructors are creative professionals who invent storylines for each week, conduct all meaningful activities in keeping with the storyline, and make up a lot of their own games. We pay close attention to each camper and make sure each has opportunities to connect with instructors and other campers, and to be recognized for their unique ideas and interests. While a lot of our games and adventures are somewhat silly, we're serious about natural science and about outdoor skills and safety. Our campers finish the summer knowing how to identify plants and animals, make fires without matches, build shelters that can withstand storms, and possessing the confidence of young explorers who know their stuff.

Job Types: Full-time, Temporary, Seasonal

Pay: $20.00 - $22.00 per hour

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday
• No nights
• No weekends

Work setting:

• Camp
• In-person

Application Question(s):

• What interests you about Kestrel and this job in particular?
• What experience and/or skills do you have related to the listed qualifications? If you have naturalist skills, please be specific. If you walked into a coastal Massachusetts forest, what would you immediately be able to identify? If outdoor skills, what skills could you demonstrate right now?

Ability to Relocate:

• Beverly, MA: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person